Harry Connolly's Blog, page 169

Book trailer

I just had a conversation with the guys making the book/series trailer for book 3. Very exciting! The current schedule should have a trailer ready for me by the start of the new year.

What happens to your life when you cancel your cable TV

Last night my son insisted that we draw some comic books. He'd just watched Scott McCloud on TED Talk and wanted to try a branching "choose your own adventure" comic.

I don't have permission to post his, but I'll put mine below the cut. It's not nearly as ambitious, and I can't draw worth a damn, but here you go anyway.

Randomness for 9/17

1) Parents offer baby-naming rights to corporations.

2) Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.

3) Speed-dating in the Marvel Universe.

4) Eight historic symbols that mean the opposite of what you think.

5) A TED talk about sleep patterns, and it's only 4 minutes long. Video.

6) I've changed my mind: e-books will ruin everything. E-comics allow users to leave comments. Yeah, it's bad.

7) Why you should never date a writer.

So many subgenres

At our dinner on Wed, Kurt Busiek mentioned the story of Howard Moskowitz, a market researcher for food companies, and it reminded me that I wanted to post the TED Talk Malcolm Gladwell gave on him.

It's a long one, about seventeen and a half minutes, but it's worth watching. For one thing, it's interesting. For another, it's funny. For a third, it not only explains why there are so many different varieties of tomato sauce or mustard on the shelves, but why there are so many sub-genres...

Meeting writers

Earlier today I went on the Underground tour with Lawrence Watt-Evans and his wife, Julie, and last night I had dinner with them and Kurt Busiek, too.

And it was really great. All three of them were terrific people–which I'd expected, sure, but things were much more comfortable than I'd imagined. My son was a little impatient with grownup talking after the Tour was over, and I knew he wanted some of my undivided attention, but aside from kiddie tyranny, it was fun.

Holy cow, but I just...

Reviews part 18

Behind the cut:

1) Mette Harrison doesn't do a long review, but she does put Game of Cages on her "recommend" list.

2) @BryantD gives this Twitterific review: "Dresden Files, without the optimism and happy endings." I kinda love that one. I'm not going to link to all the Twitter reviews, because there are a bunch and they're terribly short (on about par with "recommend".

3) Gail O'Connor gives Game of Cages a "Highly recommended." "I started Game of Cages fairly late last evening...

State of the suckitude

I'm having real trouble with my WIP. It's not The Buried King; that's on the back burner for now, based on the excellent advice of my agent. At the moment it's A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark.

There's a solid idea behind the story, and a solid setting to build it on, but as I'm writing it the whole thing feels slack.

And I think I have an idea why. I'm trying something different here, with a main character who is very knowledgeable and competent, and the stakes are both personal and ...

Author photos and online dating profiles

I've been thinking about author photos for a while. Mine is this one:

Yeah. That's me. It's not a great photo, but it's hard to take a good picture of me. At least it's better than this one or this one. So it's not great, but it's the best of a long day of shots. However, look at this one. I'd love to have a photo like that. Hell, I'd love to have an empty, uncluttered table to work at.

And authors have to fuss a little over their photos. Catherynne Valente wrote a post a few months...

Randomness for

1) Ghosts in the Hollow, a record of abandoned buildings in the Appalachians. Video. Via Cherie Priest.

2) Have some publishing wonkery: "Sell-through" explained.

3) "YOU! The one who is moving now! ANSWER!" Video

4) Revolt in the Fifth Dimension. Video part one, part two. I loved these Spider-man cartoons as a kid, even the weird, trippy space episodes like this one. This clip is worth playing for the music alone.

5) In Legoland space, no one can hear you scream.

6) Do you love Legos and ...

State of the family

My wife is having a great time in Italy (I just received a pic of her standing beside the Mediterranean with mud all over her).

My son has promised a Nerf gun sneak attack this morning. I know he wants me to set up a large defense, but I've been a little busy.

I am working on my new WIP, and I'm sorta hating it. When I have it open, and I'm working in the file, it's good. When I'm making breakfast or putting away dishes, I don't want anything to do with it.